Benitez blast at Liverpool directors

Rafael Benitez has taken a swipe at Liverpool’s directors three months after leaving Anfield.

Published

22 September 2010

The Spaniard, now with Inter Milan, said: “The last year at Liverpool I had directors who knew nothing about football and you couldn't talk about football with them.

“My relationship with the president at Inter is really good. He's a man who knows his football.

"You know that if the team does not do well he will be angry, but at least he is someone with whom it is possible to talk about football and this, in the last year I was at Liverpool, did not happen."

Benitez made it clear that, as Liverpool's season petered out in a 0-0 draw at Hull last May, he felt "senior sources" were briefing against him, and his relationship with Managing Director Christian Purslow deteriorated as his time at Anfield came to an end.

He added: "The directors I had did not understand a thing about football, whereas with [Inter president Massimo] Moratti you can talk to him."

Benitez’s replacement, Roy Hodgson, faces a banana skin Carling Cup tie at home to League Two Northampton – the lowest ranked team left in the competition – on Wednesday.

The Liverpool boss looks set to hand debuts to Danny Wilson and Brad Jones, two of his summer signings, while youth team player Andre Wisdom is likely to be named on the substitutes’ bench.